A Girl that Links the Past...
by Antares Ankaa
Summary: A small child, unknown by all but felt by all, wanders around the wizarding world, seemingly with no purpose. She only seeks peace and solitude, but with her personality, that can get pretty boring after a millenia...
1. A Day in Diagon

**_Chapter I   
A Day In Diagon _**

A small familiar girl, clad in what can be seen as a midnight cloak with the hood up to cover her face, walks amid the noise of Diagon Alley. They all stop their chatter and stare at the girl, for as soon as she passes she leaves a mysterious air about her to everyone. This is how it has always been. A faint grin can be seen through the hood's shadow as she seems to glide on air as her cloak trails the floor billowing as if a storm always seems to follow her. They all stare for a moment more as she continues her journey, then they resume to their usually chatty selves.  
  
A young man steps out of a Potion's Shoppe down the Alley just about the same time as the girl walks through the cobblestone streets of the Alley. The man, around in his forties but still strong, stops with his mouth open as the others do. Then he does something that none have done. He follows her. He follows her steps to Gringotts, and he stops at the door, not entering as she does, forming a plan to finally find out the mystery of this girl. He leans against the wall near the heavy door of the bank. He curiously looks over and sees that the girl is greeted by the goblins with warm smiles. "That's a first." he thinks to himself, for all his years he has been alive, he has never seen a goblin give a pure smile, not even a grin, to an person. He watches her crouch down to him and give him the golden key as he stumbles off of his stool. The man leans back as she turn around to follow the goblin. He sighs deeply, for he has heard the rumours. He knows this is no ordinary witch. She was said to be about ten, but never seen with a parent or any relative for that matter. Shortly afterwards, he is surprised by her quick return, but he regains himself quickly and fights himself to pretend he did not feel the cold, eerie presence that he got from her when she past him.  
  
The girl grabs the top of her hood and tugs it down farther as she head to the Potion's Shoppe. He waits leaning gently onto the glass wall as she enters, but this time he turns an ear to the window, hoping to catch the conversation. " 'ello Master Baldwin..." the girl says in a deep mystifying tone.  
  
"Hello Gabrielle! The usual weekend package m'dear?" the old graying shopkeeper says turning to his shelves of powders and liquids. He already starts to flutter about the room picking ingredients off the shelves and sorting them onto the counter before she answer.  
  
"Yes, thank you Baldwin. And another case of the dark phials please. I have been running low lately..." She says while throwing back the sides of her cloak revealing that she wears a dark midnight velvet gown that trails the ground as well. The sleeves are long and tight at the shoulder to the elbow, but flare out and wave around her hands as they are long enough to cover them almost fully. There is a triangular silver lining at her waist and at the hem of her hands, and attached to a loose soft leather strap over the gown here in hangs a hard leather money pouch and a sheath to hold her wand along with her golden Bank key. She lowers her hood as well, her auburn hair accenting the bright red and blonde highlights scattered naturally about her hair, seeing that a strip of blonde and red highlight, are twirled together and fastened at the bottom, two on each side of her face, to accent it further. The man's mouth drops open at the sight, then seeing all the quizzical stares that he is receiving he backs up from the window, but still leans his ear inward.  
  
She opens her money pouch and grabs a few galleons from within its dark depths. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear revealing quite pointy ears, and she glances to the window, and for a split second they make eye contact. He turns his head away from her glance; he was shocked at how icy blue her eyes were. He had never seen that depth or wisdom within anyone's eyes before. "Yes of course Miss Ashley, the phials are coming up."  
  
She straightens up and puts the galleons in Master Baldwin's hand. She seems to have forgotten the man outside the window. She says calmly as she hurriedly grabs the bags of the ingredients and phials, "Thank you Baldwin..." The old man counts the money seeing that she has once again paid too much. He looks up to open his mouth but sees that she is already outside of the store. She brings her hood up to her face, but with her fingers still to the top of it she looks back into the store. She grins warmly and nods to the storekeeper closing her eyes doing so, telling him that she knew what she did. Master Baldwin nods sighing back to. He gives a salute with his wand to her after she nods. She then continues to walk down the streets.  
  
The man stumbles back up from behind a heap of barrels on the other side of the shop's wall. "Phew, that was close! Good thing I had these hard as rock barrels to break my fall when I tripped backwards. Also gave me something to hide, behind when I fell over them," he says grumbling good naturally while dusting his purple robes. He sees that she is on the move once more. He starts after her again. A passerby seeing his fall walks to him and asks him,  
  
"Hey Albus! That was bloody brilliant dive there! I giver it a ten!" The Professor waves back to the man exasperated as the passerby giggles after him...  


********************

Albus ran to catch up with her, the mysterious girl. He finally saw her take rest at the Leaky Cauldron. He leaned against a brick wall and waited for a few minutes to catch his breath and decide what to do. This question had taunted him since five years ago. When he first saw her. He never did pursue her though; he always kept it to himself. Something to ponder over while at Hogwarts. But now it became too much. He had watched this small girl grow in power secretly. He watched her aura seeming to grow with every passing day. And with every passing day she disappeared into nothingness it seemed at around the time of about 6:30 in the evening. With this in mind he looks to his watch... 5:43. "Good, I still have enough bloody time to receive a few answers. That is if I wasn't such a tart." He finally sighs and walks to the Cauldron after a couple of deep breaths consuming a couple minutes.   
  
He enters the room and the immense noise and deafening chatter within the room. He walks to the bartender and asks him screaming where she would be. The blonde hairdo man points to a dark corner in the room seeming away from all the insanity. He looks harder and sees the girl. She still has her hood up, but her chair balances on two legs her feet on the side of the table relaxed none of the less. Her hands are behind her head as well, but a glorious golden bird sits on her shoulder. The falcon leans on the side of the girl's head Its beady black eyes calm seeming to be unfazed by the noise. A mug of butterbeer sits on the table. At that moment after he had drunken in the site, she lowers her hood and those icy blue eyes look straight to the Professor. He shudders and is frozen to the spot. An eyebrow raises quizzically and with a grin she mentions for Albus to come and take a seat.  
  
The frozen comes to life as he shudders once more and starts stumbling to the table. The girl drops the chair to all fours and looks down at the table as the falcon sits straighter. She tries to hold in the giggling at seeing the man stumble so. He finally makes it to the seat across from the girl. She mentions to her bird nodding in his direction, "This is my loyal companion Alshain. He's a rainbow falcon." Alshain puffs up with importance at hearing his name. The girl puts a hand to her chest saying calmly, "I am, as you may have heard, Gabrielle Ashley." She then extends her hand to the Professor, "And you are my friend?"  
  
"Al-Albus Du-Dum-Dumbledore..." he says in awe stumbling among his own name as he cautiously takes her hand.   
  
"That wasn't so hard was it now was it? Don't worry. To clear up a few things, No I do not eat people, nor do I desire to. And No I do not torture the unfortunate people who get lost within my forest, never to see mankind again." The Professor sighs now that his fears have been diminished. She says slowly to him, "So why did you follow me? You are the first to dare do so." He freezes once again.   
  
He says stumbling once more, "Ho-How di-di-did yu-you know? I-I-I was just curious-" the girl holds her hand up stopping the poor man short.  
  
"I don't bite. So don't fret for the gods sakes! Please get on with the bloody questions!" She says annoyed at his fear as she leans back in her chair as Alshain takes flight out of the window. Albus looks down to think before he speaks. He finally blurts out,  
  
"Where did you come from? What is your past?" The girl sighs and leans to Dumbledore. She then slowly begins the story of her life, in Bellrenor, with her mother... and her beloved brother... She excluded his death from the story as well as the war and the broken promises that she told the Professor. She then stopped leaning back almost on the verge of tears. She puts on a faint grin, but her eyes, her only weakness, tell the truth of what she feels. Dumbledore had to look away fro the grief in her eyes was too much to bear for the normal human being without himself breaking down. Having heard all this, he thought it was all more of a fairy tale story than anything. He finally leaned to her. "So... It seems you have been through a lot Gabby. I'm sorry if I caused any pain-" He stops short by himself as she looks into his eyes once more. The flames that flickered within her eyes now showed an undiscussable emotion that no one could describe. "I'm sorry... I' so sorry..." He says over and over as he grips the girl's shoulders as she looks at the table. He looks to his watch... 6:45... Gabby says to him,  
  
"I care not for the time dear. The animals at the cottage will fair all right." Dumbledore nods and thinks some more of what to say next. A massive boyish grin over comes his face.  
  
"Gabrielle... Have you ever heard of Hogwarts?"

********************

"Hogwarts..." she says the flickering sadness within her eyes now, replaced with fleeting thoughts of hope. A sly grin appears on her face as she quickly catches what the Professor is saying, "Indeed Albus. Dippet I believe is the Headmaster now. Don't worry, I have faith in you sir. You will get that position." Dumbledore sighs remembering the rumours that she could also read minds. Obviously she had already done so.  
  
"So I guess there is no point in telling you my plan then," he says returning the grin.  
  
"No of course not! I want to hear it from you own lips my dear." She says seeming to wave off the reply with a swift movement of her wrist.  
  
"Righto! How about coming to Hogwarts Gabby? You'll be safe there," he says excitedly. She sits back and ponders this, wondering if she would be any safer within the school then rather her cottage. Then again, with her presence there, could she cause more harm? Would she be putting her fellow friends on a track of pain, sorrow, and suffering if she submitted to this? Yet again, it would be another chapter to her life. Something to pass the time. She could always care for her animals within the Forbidden Forest as well. Plus she could always receive messages from Alshain if anything were to go wrong in her forest. She looked up after a few seconds of pondering over these thoughts.  
  
"Well... Of course! I need a smashing new chapter to my life anyways! This is bloody brilliant. What do I need to do in order to prepare?" She says looking into his eyes.  
  
"Brilliant! Here is the letter that goes out to the students," he says like a schoolboy himself as he whips out and hands over the letter with the bright green ink written on it from his robe pocket. Her icy eyes scan the parchment quickly. She says with a quizzical look as she leans to Albus.  
  
"Err... I already have all of these books... And the cauldron and such."  
  
"Of course! Don't fret Gabby-"  
  
"First of all, I'm not fretting" She says holding up a hand to cut him short. "And second of all, I have already read all these books and taken notes and such as well."   
  
The Professor leans back dumbfounded, and speechless. "Well..." he says drawing out the word slowly. A grin then appears on his face. "You could be a Professor with your knowledge and such." She grins back sorrowfully as she looks within his eyes and says within his mind in an echoing, summer breeze like voice. _Yes... But would not that_ _be quite strange?... A small child teaching those that seem to be older than her?... What would Dippet say?... What would the others say?... You must think of these consequences before you propose them aloud Albus... _Dumbledore's eyes go wide as he hears the voice. Like a little child he asks, "Can I do that?" The girl grins slowly. _Yes, but in your case, only with another that can do it as well... _Albus frowns at this and sighs. He closes his eyes and says within his mind, _LIKE THIS? _The girl giggles under her breath and says back to him, _Too loud my friend... Calm your voice... Don't try so hard Albus... _she closes her eyes now as well. Dumbledore retorts, _Oopsie... Sorry there... Ack... I'm getting a headache from this..._ He leans back and massages his temples. "Good God girl! How do you manage so long?"   
  
She opens her eyes and smiles revealing the naturally overlarge pure white canines. "I have had many years of practice Albus." There is a moment of silence between them as they both stare into each other's eyes. She finally breaks the eye contact and says, "I can be a student. Much more fun that way..." she looks down in her lap.  
  
"Are you sure Gabby?" he says tilting his head looking concerned to her. She looks up with a confidence in her mystical eyes that say it all. She is truly sure of her decision. He nods to her in reply. She finally rises from her seat and lifts her hood.   
  
Dumbledore sighs as she rises and he looks to her empty mug, then back to Gabrielle. She nods to him and sees to dance on are as she walks. She continues out of the door the room suddenly falling silent as she passes through the room. She exits, gliding through the door and onto the cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley...


	2. To Ask, or not to Ask? That is the Quest...

**_Chapter II_**  
**_To Ask, or not to Ask?  
That is the Question..._**

  
  
Albus ran to catch up with her, the mysterious girl. He finally saw her take rest at the Leaky Cauldron. He leaned against a brick wall and waited for a few minutes to catch his breath and decide what to do. This question had taunted him since five years ago. When he first saw her. He never did persue her though, he always kept it to himself. Something to ponder over while at Hogwarts. But now it became too much. He had watched this small girl grow in power secretly. He watched her aura seeming to grow with every passing day. And with every passing day she disappeared into nothingness it seemed at around the time of about 6:30 in the evening. With this in mind he looks to his watch... 5:43. "Good, I still have enough bloody time to receive a few answers. That is if I wasn't such a tart." He finally sighs and walks to the Cauldron after a couple of deep breaths consuming a couple minutes.   
  
He enters the room and the immense noise and deafening chatter within the room. He walks to the bartender and asks him screaming where she would be. The blonde hairdo man points to a dark corner in the room seeming away from all the insanity. He looks harder and sees the girl. She still has her hood up, but her chair balances on two legs her feet on the side of the table relaxed none of the less. Her hands are behind her head as well, but a glorious golden bird sits on her shoulder. The falcon leans on the side of the girl's head Its beady black eyes calm seeming to be unfazed by the noise. A mug of butterbeer sits on the table. At that moment after he had drunken in the site, she lowers her hood and those icy blue eyes look straight to the Professor. He shudders and is frozen to the spot. An eyebrow raises quizzically and with a grin she mentions for Albus to come and take a seat.  
  
The frozen comes to life as he shudders once more and starts stumbling to the table. The girl drops the chair to all fours and looks down at the table as the falcon sits straighter. She tries to hold in the giggling at seeing the man stumble so. He finally makes it to the seat across from the girl. She mentions to her bird nodding in his direction, "This is my loyal companion Alshain. He's a rainbow falcon." Alshain puffs up with importance at hearing his name. The girl puts a hand to her chest saying calmly, "I am, as you may have heard, Gabrielle Ashley." She then extends her hand to the Professor, "And you are my friend?"  
  
"Al-Albus Du-Dum-Dumbledore..." he says in awe stumbling among his own name as he cautiously takes her hand.   
  
"That wasn't so hard was it now was it? Don't worry. To clear up a few things, No I do not eat people, nor do I desire to. And No I do not torture the unfortunate people who get lost within my forest, never to see mankind again." The Professor sighs now that his fears have been diminished. She says slowly to him, "So why did you follow me? You are the first to dare do so." He freezes once again.   
  
He says stumbling once more, "Ho-How di-di-did yu-you know? I-I-I was just curious-" the girl holds her hand up stopping the poor man short.  
  
"I don't bite. So don't fret for the gods sakes! Please get on with the bloody questions!" She says annoyed at his fear as she leans back in her chair as Alshain takes flight out of the window. Albus looks down to think before he speaks. He finally blurts out,  
  
"Where did you come from? What is your past?" The girl sighs and leans to Dumbledore. She then slowly begins the story of her life, in Bellrenor, with her mother... and her beloved brother... She excluded his death from the story as well as the war and the broken promises that she told the Professor. She then stopped leaning back almost on the verge of tears. She puts on a faint grin, but her eyes, her only weakness, tell the truth of what she feels. Dumbledore had to look away fro the grief in her eyes was too much to bear for the normal human being without himself breaking down. Having heard all this, he thought it was all more of a fairy tale story than anything. He finally leaned to her. "So... It seems you have been through a lot Gabby. I'm sorry if I caused any pain-" He stops short by himself as she looks into his eyes once more. The flames that flickered within her eyes now showed an undiscussable emotion that no one could describe. "I'm sorry... I' so sorry..." He says over and over as he grips the girl's shoulders as she looks at the table. He looks to his watch... 6:45... Gabby says to him,  
  
"I care not for the time dear. The animals at the cottage will fair all right." Dumbledore nods and thinks some more of what to say next. A massive boyish grin over comes his face.  
  
"Gabrielle... Have you ever heard of Hogwarts?"


End file.
